We noted the near misses, ranked #6-10, now it's time for the top five busts of the year.

5. Laurence Maroney, Patriots - Remember how fantasy owners used to curse the Patriots passing game because they spread the ball around too much? That happened to Maroney this year in the running game. Even before his injury, Sammy Morris and Kevin Faulk were outplaying him in their roles. His strong finish (6 tds in seven weeks) gave hope for 2008, but it defied any expectations that Maroney didn’t score until Week 11 on the highest scoring team of all time.

4. Marc Bulger, Rams - Plenty of owners took Bulger ahead of Tom Brady and Tony Romo, and with good reason. He was coming off a 4,300 yard season and had never averaged under 256 yards-per-game in his career. He didn’t even crack 200 this year, and only threw 11 touchdowns while doing his best late-career Drew Bledsoe impression. Hopefully a healthy offensive line leads to better play.

3. Marvin Harrison, Colts - I tried to avoid injured players here, but Harrison’s case was special for a lot of reasons. He had missed a total of two games in the last eight years. He played at a position where almost all the top picks performed well enough. Most excruciatingly, Harrison originally got hurt in Week 3, and the Colts said it was a minor bruise. He gained 24 yards the rest of the year while he strung owners along with a brutal week-to-week non-comeback story. You get the sense around the Colts that they weren’t happy with Harrison’s long rehab, and neither were fantasy owners.

Continue reading "Top Five Busts of the Year" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

If I was a smart blog writer, I’d break up this top-ten busts of the year into ten posts, increase the amount of hits, set up some content in a slow time of year, and everyone would be happy. But I’m too impatient. Let's break it into two more posts, all in one day.

10. Cedric Benson, Bears - It’s never a good sign when fantasy owners are relieved by season-ending injuries. The Bears stayed faithful as long as possible, but it’s hard to imagine Benson being handed the unquestioned starting job next year, no matter what he says.

9. Travis Henry, Broncos - Like Benson, injuries were a factor. But the reality is that Henry suited up 12 times, and he didn’t top 51 rushing yards in his last seven games. What looked like a great marriage for Henry in Denver could end after one season.

8. Mark Clayton, Ravens - No one gave fantasy owners less on this list than Clayton. He was drafted as a solid WR3 (Average Draft Position among top 30 wideouts), and never showed up for his third season. The Baltimore offense doesn’t fully explain his struggles because Derrick Mason has a similar style game.

7. Vince Young, Titans - Statistically, it was hard to argue against Young going into the season. He was a top-five fantasy QB when he played as a rookie. Fantasy Nation’s gut didn’t love him, though. His ADP was eighth, we ranked him ninth. He finished 17th and only 26th in per-game average. Trust the gut.

6. Larry Johnson, Chiefs - Don’t let LJ’s solid three-game finish before his foot injury cloud his season. He was held to five fantasy points or less in half his games, and didn’t score until Week 5. He put his owners in a huge hole, he got hurt, and then he gave out false hope that he might help them in the fantasy playoffs.

We'll finish off the busts in the morning, along with the second half of the Top 30 keepers. Thanks for the patience. In the meantime, check out today's supersized Playoff prop bet edition of the Fantasy Fix, which unfortunately includes an Omar Epps impression. If that doesn't keep you from clicking, I don't know what will.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

It's time for the final edition of everyone's favorite running segment that got lost in the shuffle sometime in November: BustWatch!

As always, BustWatch is based on a highly subjective combination of expectations, performance, pain inflicted to owners (especially me), and what I ate for lunch. I don't love including injured players on the list, but a player that combines terrible play with injuries is fair game. Let's start with the guys who didn't make the final top ten.

Continue reading "Year End BustWatch" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 01:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Like Bill Parcells, Mike Martz is a coach who has "his guys." Rare players who understand his labyrinthian offensive system and appreciate his prickly tutoring.

Martz was only in Detroit two years, but his fingerprints are all over the offense. Primary among "Martz guys" are Jon Kitna, Shaun McDonald, and Mike Furrey, all of whom reached statistical highs under Martz that just won't happen with anyone else. Kitna will face increased competition for his job, while McDonald and Furrey will probably start putting up normal reserve numbers.

Detroit was dead last in rushing attempts for two years running, and that's going to change with Martz gone. They won't remain in the top-five in passing attempts.

While looking up these stats, I noticed that Detroit's offense actually improved in yards, points, and yards-per-attempt in both rushing and passing this season. Rod Marinelli's defense, not Martz's offense, has been the biggest reason why Detroit can't win.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 06:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Mike Nolan is sticking around, but only after firing his offensive staff. He might be a lame duck. Mike Martz is gone in Detroit, which isn't good news for Jon Kitna's fantasy future. Rob Ryan is out in Oakland, which shows a surprising amount of power in the organization by Lane Kiffin. Here are some other odds and ends from Wednesday morning ...

* This one is a few days old, but Marvin Lewis' constant complaints about his players' attitudes are odd. Isn't it his job to change those attitudes? Anyhow, I wonder who keeps complaining about their contract? It has to be T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and probably Chad Johnson too.

Continue reading "Linked: Coaching moves trickle out" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The last of the Dick Vermeil coaches in Kansas City are gone, which isn't a big surprise. Someone has to pay for that miserable of an offense, and it wasn't going to be GM Carl Peterson unfortunately.

Former Jets and Chiefs coordinator Paul Hackett sounds like the leading candidate to take over, but that doesn't jibe with an interesting throw-away line in Jason Whitlock's annual must-read Chiefs grades.

Continue reading "A ray of hope for L.J.?" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Before the holiday season gets too far into the rearview, I thought I'd throw out some ideas for those with gift cards burning a hole in their pockets.

I wrote about some of my favorite football books in the summer of 2006, and all those would still make excellent choices. But here are some of my favorites that I've read in the last 18 months.

Continue reading "Gift Card Ideas" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 01:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)